First past the Needles; as the yacht Yamaha passed the Needles her professional crew knew for certain they had won the Whitbread round the world race and Heineken Trophy.

The race still exists today billed as The Volvo Ocean Race, the world’s premier offshore race.
At a meeting in London they chose Gordon Frickers partly because of his “Ice Maiden” painting (see Print Gallery).
As the yacht approached England Gordon Frickers had to rush to Southampton to interview the crew and see the yacht.

The elated crew of Yamaha who had docked only an hour before unhesitatingly loved the idea of the painting and made Gordon Frickers welcome on board, simultaneously apologizing for the ‘mess’ and boasting they’d not had time to change since Rio so had chest hairs growing through their T shirts…